Larger-scale settlement began in 1679, in the area of the starost's jurydyka, under the privilege issued by the King Jan III Sobieski. As a result, a large district, called the Jewish Town or Jewish Village, grew next to the former city. Jews set up their homes mainly on Żydowska street and engaged in small trade and crafts.

In 1840, the area of the Jewish Town was incorporated into Piotrków Trybunalski. Soon, the city began to develop intensively, after the construction of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway in 1846. Jews were among the founders of the first industrial factories. Particularly noteworthy is the flourishing of the printing industry after 1864 - the Bible, Talmud, rabbinical literature, and works of Hebrew and Jewish literature were pressed in local printing houses.

The Jewish community in Piotrków was famous thanks to its outstanding representatives, especially in the field of religious science. Talmudist Tewele Berliner, Eliezer Pacanowski, Eliezer Urbach (author of the work Chidushe Ru), as well as many rabbis, worked here. The last rabbi of Piotrków was Mosze Chaim Lau, who achieved this position in 1936 and was known as the co-creator of the Bet Yaakov Orthodox education system for girls. There were numerous Hasidim, including tzadik Chaim Dawid Bernard, called Działoszyner, who also managed the Jewish hospital.

In 1928, Jews constituted 65% of the registered craftsmen and merchants in the city. They led, among others, a soda water plant, a tannery, an oil mill, a foundry, a carpentry workshop, a sawmill, a brickyard, and mills. During the economic crisis at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, local crafts fell into decline. In politics, the orthodox Aguda retained the most influence.

After the outbreak of World War II, Piotrków found itself under German occupation. The Germans started segregation activities very early here. They issued a regulation regarding Poles and Jews over 16 years of age, which obliged them to exchange their identity cards for identification cards. At the same time, a supplementary regulation was issued requiring the race to be entered in the religion field (the letter A stood for 'Aryan' and the letter J for 'Jewish').

In 1939, the Germans established a ghetto in Piotrków - one of the first in occupied Europe. Initially, it consisted of 182 houses and covered 28 streets. At the turn of 1939 and 1940, Jews from Łódź, Poznań, Gniezno, Bydgoszcz, Nakło, Szubin, and Kalisz were transported to Piotrków. According to a 1940 list, in the Piotrków district were more than 20,000 Jews. The liquidation of the ghetto took place in 1942, when most of the prisoners were transported to the German Nazi extermination camp in Treblinka. The rest were shot or imprisoned in labor camps by the Germans.

The Jewish community existed in Piotrków even after the war. In 1945, there were 372 Jews here. However, quite a few of them left the city over the next few years. Roman Hipszer, called 'the last Jew in Piotrków', died in 2005.

The cemetery

There were two cemeteries managed by the Jewish community in Piotrków Trybunalski. The so-called 'new' Jewish cemetery is located at Spacerowa 95. It is among the largest and most valuable objects of this kind in Poland. About 1,740 gravestones have been preserved on an area of 13 hectares. The oldest ones come from the end of the 18th and the first decades of the 19th century, including the monument to Efraim Fisz, son of Hirsz (d. 1796). Of particular value to religious Jews are restored ohels of three tzadiks: Meir Menachem Finkler from Radoszyce, Isachar Dow Ber ha-Kohen Tornheim from Wolbórz and Menachem Mosze Waltfried from Roprza. A lapidarium was created from the tombstones recovered during the repair of roads. Permanent maintenance, including grubbing up of self-seeding trees, is carried out in the western and central parts. The necropolis is entered into the register of monuments under no. 408, pursuant to the decision of December 27, 1989 (WKZ Piotrków Trybunalski).

Author of the note: Magda Lucima

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.